30 - 31 August
31 August - 7:25am
As of today 114,020 cases of the coronavirus have been diagnosed in Israel, Yesterday 555 new cases were recorded but only 5,500 tests were carried out. Currently 20,305 individuals are infected with the virus and 444 patients are in serious condition. A total of 919 Covid-19 fatalities in Israel - 13 new deaths yesterday. - Worldometer
Corona Cabinet and the traffic light plan
- 48 hours before the start of the new school year, Prof. Ronni Gamzu's traffic-light plan is approved and it will come into effect on Sunday. Each municipal area will be categorized according to coronavirus numbers and restrictions on those zones will be placed accordingly.
- In the next few days the Corona Cabinet will discuss the classification and criteria for red zones
- Most importantly, in the meantime, all schools will open on Tuesday, September 1st, in ALL areas - even red zones
- Members of the cabinet also approve the Minister of Culture and Sports' plan. Commencing Sunday 1,000 people or a 60% capacity for audiences in closed areas
New school year
- Minister of Education Yoav Galant and Prof Gamzu will meet this morning to further discuss the education strategy for red zones.
- 24 hours before the start of the new school years the teachers' union is threatening a strike. The labor courts are to decide whether a strike is legal. Teachers are concerned about their exposure to the coronavirus, teachers who are in high risk categories and how the situation will be handled if they are diagnosed with the virus.
- Opening the schools safely in the shadow of the coronavirus - a must read for all parents
- 1,500 new olim children will be entering Israel's education system for the first time tomorrow :)
Travel abroad - green countries
- These 9 countries have now also been classified "green" and travelers to them are NOT required to self quarantine upon their return
Australia |
Uruguay |
UAE* |
Ireland |
Taiwan |
Norway |
Singapore |
Portugal |
Thailand |
Austria |
Italy |
Estonia |
Bulgaria |
Britain |
Georgia |
Germany |
Denmark |
Hong Kong |
Hungary |
Greece |
Jordan |
Latvia |
Lithuania |
New Zealand |
Slovenia |
Finland |
Canada |
Cyprus |
Croatia |
Rwanda |
- *The first EL AL flight to Dubai in the UAE this morning and the flight has been granted permission to fly over Saudi Arabia. Travel time to the UAE is just over 3 hours.
The budget and Ministry of Finance
- Following the chaos that surrounded getting the country's budget approved (an extension was eventually granted),, Shaul Merridor - Head of the budget department in the MOF, has resigned. Finance Minister Israel Katz met with Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, last night, and informed him that he intended to advance Shaul Meridor’s resignation process. President Reuven Rivlin commented: “I very much regret Shaul Meridor’s resignation as head of the budget department at the Ministry of Finance. The implications are of great concern".
The weather
Temperatures today |
Sefad |
38° |
Afula |
44° |
Tel Aviv |
34° |
Jerusalem |
41° |
Bet Shean |
47° |
Arava |
48° |
Nazareth |
30° |
Dead Sea & Eilat |
43° |
Good luck for the new school year!
30 August - 7:03am
- As of today 113,465 cases of the coronavirus have been diagnosed in Israel, Over the two-day weekend just under 3,000 new cases were recorded. Currently 20,017 individuals are infected with the virus and 438 patients are in serious condition. A total of 906 Covid-19 fatalities in Israel - 22 new deaths over the weekend. - Worldometer
- Some 30,000 coronavirus tests were carried out this weekend and 8.6% yielded a positive result. - N12
- STRIKES From today, lab workers will be on strike. The situation in public health, medical testing laboratories in untenable for the workers. They are demanding a pay increase (currently earning 31 NIS/hour). They are also dissatisfied with their workload and their working conditions. Hospitals and clinics will not be providing lab services except for life saving testing (operating rooms and maternity wards). Testing in ICU and emergency rooms will not be affected. Elective testing and non urgent testing procedures will no be carried out as well as testing prior to non-urgent surgeries. How does the strike affect the coronavirus crisis? Only coronavirus positive test results will be returned to patients.
- Will there be a strike on September 1st? A parents and teachers strike is still a strong possibility. 2.4 million children are expected to start school on Tuesday. At the same time approximately 20% of parents announce that due to the coronavirus situation they will not be sending their children to school.
- CORONA RESTRICTIONS The coronavirus cabinet is scheduled to meet today (after the 4th postponement). Prof. Ronni Gamzu is expected to present his plan for the new school year and the upcoming Jewish holidays. Due to the delays and postponement of the meeting, his traffic-light plan has still not been approved. On today's agenda: possible increase in restrictions, keeping schools closed in red-zones, harsher directives for red-zones like a night-time curfew. Large public gatherings could be allowed in green-zones and preventing travel to Uman (much to the dissatisfaction of the ultra-Orthodox Breslev community) will also be under discussion.
- Gamzu: If in the end, the only way to protect the public's health is a curfew, and there is no other choice, I will implement a curfew on red-zones
- CORONA STATS Some 98,000 citizens have been placed in isolation in the last week in Israel and over 726,000 have been isolated since the onset of the pandemic in February. Almost 850,000 people are unemployed. - Channel 13
- Coronavirus resources
- DEMONSTRATIONS More anti-Netanyahu demonstrations across the country. Some 20,000 people participated in peaceful demonstrations last night.
- WEATHER Make sure you drink adequate amounts of water, keep yourself properly hydrated and limit being outdoors or any strenuous activity this week during the extreme heatwave that is affecting the entire country. Temperatures are expected to peak well into the 40s and even close to 50°C in the Arava. Hospitals and emergency rescue services are on high alert. The heatwave is expected to continue until the weekend. The high temperatures are to be accompanied by high levels of humidity; Bet Dagan - 90% humidity, Haifa - 80% humidity and Jerusalem - an unusually high 65% humidity level. Sunday and Monday temperatures will peak. On Tuesday (back to school), there will be a slight drop in temperature however as the weekend draws closer, temperatures are expected to rise again.
Temperatures today |
Kinneret |
43° |
Tel Aviv |
32° |
Jerusalem |
38° |
Nazareth |
38° |
Dead Sea & Eilat |
42° |
Haifa |
31° |
Ariel |
38° |
Beer Sheva |
37° |